MAD1

What rocket? Whose rocket? NASA, China, ...??? (I heard on the news something about the China booster re-entering near the Maldives or somesuch in the Indian Ocean. But don't watch the news much these days, too much misery on it.) Re the buzz then the quiet, I expected that with Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS aka FS2020, sorry I put the wrong year in my earlier post), that there wasn't much activity for the last few years, but a whole heap of newbies, and old newbies (like me) got interested again, and hence the buzz last year, 2020, and over Xmas - New Year, and now things are settling down again.

Sounds like great "armchair geographer" activity. I also like to do that - Google Earth, Wikipedia etc. but do it much as not much time to be an armchair geographer (I happen to be a real geographer by the way). Something for my retirement in a coupla years time. Happy trails!

Lucky you, in essence finding those installers as Easter eggs etc.

I got my CH Products yoke from the recycle shop at my local refuse centre (the "tip"), was on the shelf, covered in dust, of the 3 levers on the right side, the 2 right-most ones were broken off. Bought it I think for A$15 (or it might have been $5). All the levers moved easily but the yoke shaft itself was very stiff. Has a USB connector. Took it home, put it on the shelf where it sat for a couple of years. Plugged it into my FS2002 and it registered correctly with all controls, I didn't need to do anything. But as I wasn't active, and didn't have a proper sim booth set up, I put it back on the shelf, given that the yoke was very stiff to move. Thought to dismantle it but was afraid it might have fancy stuff inside or springs that would go "sproing ...." and explode on opening. Tried silicone lubricant spray on the yoke shaft once but it didn't help much. Last year, I thought "what the heck, it's broken now and if I break it more, not prob". So bit the bullet and dismantled. Was very easy, only a few screws in the bottom, and a nice surprise, the box is full of air. Only got a little circuit board inside. That left-side trim wheel is as the other guys have said, a calibration control in the first instance, I've never used it. I do use the left rocker buttons on the yoke handlebars, and they registered as such (if I remember, unsure) when I first plugged it in. Anyhow, I lubricated all the moving parts inside the box with Vaseline, and now everything moves very smoothly. It was a big improvement on the Logitech joystick I have (that cost me A$50 new some 5 years or so ago), as the yoke has very much more fine control. I, like others, love it, wouldn't fly without it. Re the 2 broken levers, I decided to try and restore them, by drilling a very fine hole into the tops (that were broken flush with the box surround) and gently fashioned some fine wire into a loop so that I could push the two ends of the loop into the hole. That worked very well, I now can move those levers very easily. The middle lever registered automatically as the mixture control in my default Cessna, and I haven't changed that. I don't use the far-right lever. The left lever is the throttle. The trigger for me to dismantle the box was to drill two holes in it so that I could mount the yoke into a metal frame I rigged up when I set up my sim booth in my retired 40 year old Mazda 929 car. Got all that set up easily, and for no cost, and since then my sim experience has been great.

Just watched it, very enjoyable whilst sipping a glass of red. As we all know, or find out over time, there are many "secret" stories re wartime (any war over the last 120 years of flight). I have an intriguing conjecture about some 1960s research re USA and Australia re radio research and aircraft- I know nothing, but know of "some funny coincedences" etc. What is true, what is conjecture, and what is made up as "fake facts" is the puzzle to tease out.

Yes, I've noticed the site had gone quiet. It was very busy around Xmas - New Year, but presumed that most folk were on holiday and had time to sim and post, and after 2021 got going, those of us who are working all had to go back to the grindstone. Doesn't explain why the retired old boys went quiet though. My other thought was that there was heaps of hoop-la re the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator (aka FS2021) [yes, yes, all the debate about naming, but whatever, that product (yawn)] and now that all that pizzaz has passed, it's standard business-as-usual life in the sim world.] Standard human behaviour.

Glad to hear that you were able to run your old friend FS2002 today without a hitch. Unfortunately for me, my old, reliable HP wp6400 Workstation has gone on the blink. Now getting on startup "927 - Non-fatal FSB error on Front Side Bus 0", "F7Err: detected MCERR from processor". Have done some investigation including net searches, YouTube etc. But too hard for now so have given up for now. So no FS for me for now. But it IS a nice "warm fuzzy" feeling when you try older software, thinking "this'll probably not work", and it does, perfectly. Enjoy your nostalgia. Why did you bother or get interested in FS2002 again after 18 years?

Is it 25 years Nels of Flightsim.com? If so, are you going to do a review like you did at 10 and 20 years? Hope so.

I looked at the video, very interesting.

I meant Andrew Herd (username anherd). In Features > Reviews, his four parts starting with "FS2002 Preview Part 1" dated 16 October 2001. Also, in OpEd "FS2002" 20 Sep 2001. Another interesting one is "FS2002: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" by Phil Colvin (wolf2) 6 January 2002. Interesting that this forum started (currently page 1766) 1 Jan 2002 with just a "Happy New Year!!!" post, and the second post was the same day, actually about FS2002, being "Concord Gauges".

Been reading this forum's old posts for when FS2002 first came out. It's a neat trick. Just pretend now is 2001. Phil Herds posts are very good. Will link a few here. (As I have FS2002 in it's box, pristine, it's as if I've just arrived home from the shop, excited, just installed it and enjoying this amazing new sim!)

Perhaps you meant to post this in the FS2020 forum, i.e. the "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020" forum, or did you really mean to post it here, in this old legacy FS2002 forum?

Me too, bookmarked the books site. Just had a quick browse of the first book. Great, t hanks CRJ_simpilot, I've now got my bedside reading!

I agree Inus, Loki, the existing forums are sufficient. Don't want too many. The software forum is a good place for an ongoing Linux thread.

Interesting read. CRJ_simpilot, very interesting and pithy (and somewhat overwhelming re the tech content but very welcome) and fantastic posts. Similar to you, I don't like the evolution in MS operating systems. Maybe its good, maybe not, you would seem to be indicating not. CRJ_simpilot, would you be interested in contributing to the other FS2004 thread re Linux "Install FS2004 on Ubuntu - it works! Here's how to do it."? I'd be interested to get your take on the Linux world. I'm a fan of open source community things. Contrary to their criticism e.g. "oh, it's not controlled by anyone ..." misses the point, there are thousands of eyes and brains worldwide contributing, and watching, and picking up errors etc. so in many ways it's superior to a proprietary, privately owned product. Just like these flight sim communities.

Great post Tigretto. Thanks for all the info. I too have been wanting to ditch MS and in my house make everything open source i.e. Linux. I installed Ubuntu 16.04 last year and it works great. Am writing this post on it now. Had wondered if MS flight sim products might run on it, and had heard of WINE and read a little about it. But all that fiddling just made me feel tired just thinking about it! I just had a trawl through the Forum list and don't see any forum for Linux. I think we should set one up. What do you think guys, you old gurus in flightsim.com - Inus, loki? (I've got FS2000 and FS2002, only use FS2002. Presume that if FS2004 can be got running in Linux, then FS2002 can too. But will probably buy a cheap FS2004 CD set sometime once I finish my adventures in FS2002. The WinXP box I've got FS2002 on I've always wanted to convert to a Linux box. So if I could get a MS flight sim running on it under Linux, that'd be great.) Will be interested to follow this thread and see where it leads. Tigretto, please continue to post here your experiences.

Addendum. A great thing about FlightSim.com is its history, I enjoy reading the old posts, much still relevant especially if running older stuff (a bit like our cars, not everyone has a new 2021 model, so if we need a part we either buy aftermarket new or go to the "wreckers" (Aussie term) i.e. recyclers and get it cheap. The older postings can be very helpful.

Thanks all for the wisdom, equates to many hours of "tears before bedtime" saved! CRJ simpilot, great info, from what you said about what you're in to re pc stuff, I will rely on your opinions. Re opinions, it's the old story, ask 3 guys and you'll get 5 opinions! And, reality is there's such a diverse user community including sim products, one really needs to find some buddies with the same setups etc. Me, FS2002 on WinXP, all "out of the box" cos I don't have time nor interest to fiddle nor time to sim, works fine, $0 0 effort.

I understand your pain Napamule, and agree, with the recent FS developments, and the "cloud based" computer environment the world is forcing us to embrace. I also don't like that constant update and monitoring feeling by "big brother" IT. Would love to have FS2020 working perfectly on a nice heavy duty PC. But am not prepared to spend the $ and many a sad weekend tweaking it, perhaps only to be disappointed in the long run. So, option - don't try! (for now) Re messing about with stuff, I know many guys over the years have taken a car and converted the cabin into their Dr Who "Tardis" sim environment "... it's bigger on the inside than on the outside ...", have seen a YouTube video of two English guys building a full 3-axis sim, all moving, using a car body cabin (cut off the front at the firewall, and the boot/trunk behind the back seat) was inspiring, but far beyond my desires, time, budget etc. The child in me finds that appealing. I suppose it must be the child in all of us simmers that make us do what we do, given other folk think we're quite strange, "playing games" for hours when we could be like them outside in the sunshine getting healthy physical exercise. Re the Oz situation and messing in the garage, well, it's just another way I can endear myself to my wife and the neighbours (we're exceptionally quite, only the lawn mower makes noise occasionally, one neighbour, being a family with two kids, are a noise factory! Just the fun of living in the suburbs! Finally, back to the thread topic, Luke, as you no doubt know already, if you want FS2020 "as shown on TV" you'll have to have top gear etc. Good luck!

As a legacy simmer on FS2002, not using or needing the Internet to fly, all runs nicely on my legacy WinXP box, I'm a happy camper! I simply gave up the idea of having the latest and greatest. As was said in that movie "Second hand lions", "Kid ... just learn to do without"! Suggest you simply drag all the gear out of the garage, blow the dust off, fire it all up, see what works (it probably all will), and take it from there. You might be surprised and not only get a nostalgia kick but also find that what you've got is sufficient to "fly your plane" for now. Plus, $0, 0 pain, heaps of fun! Like you, I wanted to "get serious" this time around. Have set up my cockpit booth in my retired car in my garage, my 40 year old Mazda 929. Works a treat. Got two standard screens, one in front of me for Cockpit view, one below to the right where I drag the panel to etc. Have a yoke in front of me. Nicely immersive. (Being Oz, steering wheel is on right side, so am seated on the correct left side. Suggest that if you have the space, e.g. in your garage, go to the wreckers and get part of car body, chop it up, and make a cockpit in it.

My understanding from my IT guys at my workplace, they say the further from the modem that you are the greater the chance of slower speed. So if it isn't a hassle for you, connect the Ethernet cable. There might not be any difference or there might be. A copper wire is still king!

A very interesting and thoughtful review August. I enjoyed reading it. (As a part-time simmer, with my freebie FS2002, am happy with my "legacy" software for now, but am interested in the "FS2020 journey" that you and others experience, for future reference.)

G'day Fred. FlightSim.com is a good community to play/party/discuss things in, and from where you can get heaps of help from the "old boys".

Am not surprised that Chris Tarana posted. See his thread in forum FS2002 "Southern Lights Found in Fs2002" and his post #9 and #11 "Fs2000 Douglas R4D NATS by Bill Rambow, Roy Chaffin, and Jan Visser. It here in the file area!" includes a sextant and screenshot of the cockpit with the sextant. Chris also listed books link in #8 "The Survivors Library website has books about Celestial Navigation also. I grabbed 12 to read! http://www.survivorlibrary.com/". Haven't got into celnav myself but have always been wanting to, given my astronomy interest, and space, and boats, including in-space celnav. Similarly for orbital mechanics. Lovely maths, but all a bit mysterious! :confused:. Amazing stuff Sean C, the hours of work that must have taken to develop. And all in Excel too, wow!

As I get to know the FlightSim.com site more and more, I discover much rich material, including the forum "Real world aviation" > "Real Aviation Tutorials & FAQs". Very handy for newbies learning about flying, and if desiring to "get it right, do it right", that knowledge can be applied in the sim and provides for a richer, more authentic experience. It certainly helps me. So here's a cross-post: Cessna 172 useful training video Mr Aviation 101.